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Pneumatic Loom. NO. 133,386, Patented No'v.26,1872.

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C. RICHARDSON.

Pneumatic Looms.

No. 133,386, Patented N0v.26,1872.

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AM FHDTUi/THGAPHIGGQMYfUSBORNES PRUCESS) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 C. RICHAR DSON. i

Pneumatic Looms.

N0.133,386. Patented Nov. 26,1872.

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CHARLES RICHARDSON, OF LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN.

IMPROVEMENT IN PNEUMATIC LOMS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent'No. E33,3S6,dated November 26, 1872.

v To all whom it may concern:

' certain Improvements in Looms for Weaving,

of which the following is a specication:

My invention relates to improvements in looms for weaving, in which the shuttles are actuated by compressed air, and especially to apparatus such as that for which English Letters Patent were granted to me, bearing date the 3d day of February, 1868, No. 366, andthe 17th day of November, 1868, No. 3,499. I employ cams placed in suitable positions on the loom, and driven in any suitable manner, so arranged and adapted in relation to the air-.compressing instruments that they shall cause them to act at the exact times and in the exact manner required the cams being so formed that not only shall the air-compressin g instruments be caused to act at the proper times, but when they are required not to act their moving parts shall be retained by the cams in a quiescent or nearly quiescent state relative to the sley-beam, notwithstanding the motion of the latter.

In Sheet l of the drawing, Figure I represents an elevation of a-loom side frame with my improvements attached; Fig. 2, a back view of same, showing the apparatus as arranged at one end of the loom, it being understood that similar apparatus is applied to each end thereof. In Sheet 2, Fig. 3, a sectionthrough the air-cylinder, sley-beam, and shuttlc-box 5 Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7, respectively, longitudinal section of shuttle-box and part of sleybeam, top plan of shuttle-boxlid, plan of shuttlc-box with lid removed, and under-side view of shuttlelbox lid.

A is the side frame of the loom 5 B, the sleybeam; C, the air-compressing cylinder fixed on the back of the sley-beam, communicating by the pipe D with the end of the shuttle-box; E, a piston receiving its motion in the cylinder C from a lever F working on the swing-rail center. This lever is jointed to and operated by a slide-link, G, receiving motion from the cam H, which is, by preference, fixed to and revolves with the second motion wheel I, so as to revolve once for every two movements of the sley backward and forward. A bowl, J, on the slide-link G, takes into the groove of the cam H, which is so formed that, at the time when the shuttle is to be thrown across the shed, the part 1 of the cam operates on the bowl J, forcing in the piston E and compressing the Yair which passes by the pipe D into the end of the shuttle-box, sc as to throw the shuttle or to effect the pick.77 The part 2 of the cam next operates to' keep the piston thus pressed into the cylinder during the further outward motion of the sley-beam, during its forward motion to beat up the weft, and duringits second outward motion, until just before the time ofthe arrival of the shuttle from the opposite side of the loom into the box on the side under description, when the part 3 of the cam operates to draw out the piston, and thus to suck the shuttle completely into the box, where it is then locked by the pawl P, Fig. 4 and Fig. 7. The part 4 ofthe cam then operates to ret-ain the piston drawn out in the cylinder in the position shown in Fig. 3 during the further outward motion, the beating' up of the weft, and the next outward motion ofthe sley, until the moment of again pick in g77 from the side under description, when the part 1 of the cam once more comes into operation to force the piston inward, and the cycle of operations is repeated. If preferred, this cam may be arranged, as shown in Fig. 8, to operate directly on the piston, without the intervention of the lever F. The shuttle-box is provided with a sliding spring-buffer, which receives the shock of the ventering shuttle on a disk of India rubber or other elastic material, K, fixed to a metal disk, Ii, on which is formed a stem, M, capable of sliding in the cylindrical recess, N. A spring, O, keeps the buifer pressed out until the shuttle enters the box. A hole is formed through the buiier corresponding to the pipe D leading from the compressing-cylinder.

When the shuttle enters the box the buffer is compressed and the pawl drops into a notch in the shuttle, locking the shuttle, to preventits rebounding. Tlie point of the shuttle enters the hole in the elastic disk on the bu'er, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6, thus forming a valve to store up the air or to prevent its passage from the cylinder until the'in ger Q, iixed on the lever F, Fig. l, acts by the lever It and pin S upon theshorto er end of the pawl l?, raising the longer end, so

as to liberate the shuttle at the exact moment required. In order to regulate the amount of the exhaustion or suction to draw the shuttle into the box, one or more adjustable reliefvalves, T T, Fig. 2, opening inward during the outward motion of the piston, may be inserted into the said piston E. The strength of the pick or force of air to drive theshuttle is regulated to any degree of nicety by a small tap, U, Fig. 2, applied to each of the air-compressin g instruments, byopening which to aproper extent more or less of the air may he allowed to escape when the stroke is given. In Sheet 2, Figs. 8 and 9represent, respectively, an elevation and plan of a cam designed to effeet the samepurpose as that before described. In this cam a projecting nose, H1, is made to act as an edge-cam upon the bowl J on the slidelink Gr, which is connected by a joint direct to the piston, and gives the pick at the proper time. At othertimes the bowl J need not be in contact with the cam H, as the bowl J 1on the slide-link takes into a groove, H2, in the cam, by which the other relative motions of the piston with respect to the sley-beam are eifected. This cam is shown mounted on a shaft, V, which revolves in bearings behind the crankshaft W, beingconnected thereto, by gearing X X, so that it shall revolve once for' every two revolutions of the latter shaft, and in this case it will be found mostconvenient to place the fast and loose pulleys Y Y for driving the' loom on the shaft V. The cam last described may be readily applied to a loom in which the sley is moved in a manner now well known by a double cam instead of by the ordinary crankshaft. In this case the cams for actuating the compressing instruments are fixed on the straight shaft carrying the double cams, which makes only one revolution (like the back shaft V, already described) for each two movements of the sley backward and forward. It will be understood that other forms of compressing instruments-such, for example, as, flexible .bellow s--may be employed instead 0f cylinders and pistons, and that other means than those described may be used to convey motion from the cam to the air-compressing instruments.

By the means above described, not only the compression of the air to drive the shut- `tlc out ofthe box, and the exhaustion of the air to draw the shuttle into the box, are l effected at the right time and to the reqnired extent, but the air-compressing instruments are retained under control at all nes, whether while acting or not, and the is stored in the compressing instruments he shuttle retained in the box until the r enmoment for its liberation. When it is '..notgzrequired that the piston in the air-coin- @cylinder shall remain in a quiescent, j y quiescent, state, therein, at the times f ot required `to act, eccentrics may be plo d to give motion to the pistons,instead l hei am bovedescribed. In Sheet 3, Figs.

eccentric H is fixed on the backition to that of the cam hei: eccentric rod G being,

by preference, jointed directly to the piston E, as shown. In this case the cylinder is made to prevent an-excessive amount of compression being thereby produced before the liberationy of the shuttle, holes U U are made in the cylinder, or a small tap or taps inserted in such .i

positions as will allow of the escape of the air therefrom until the piston has moved to the position at which compression should begin to give the pickJ In shuttle-boxes fitted with pawls or other locking or holding instruments intended to retain the shuttle, I so arrange the said pawls that the shuttle-boxes may be adjusted to compensate for the vertical wear of the shuttle, the horizontal wear being compensated for by the ordinary well-known means. In order to ei'ect this, (see Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7, Sheet 1,) I mount the said pawl, marked P, in a plate, a, which is recessed into the under side of the lid b of the shuttle-box, being raised or lowered therein by means of nuts and screws j c c, from the exterior of the lid, in such manner as to expand or contract the space between the lid and the bottom of the box at will, an elastic material, d, being, by preference, interposed between the plate aand thelid ofthe box. I also connect the pawl in the shuttle-box in looms of this description with the frog-pawl, in cases where the looms are of thekind known as fast reed looms, by a direct attachment in such manner that when the shuttle misses the box or sticks in the shed, the pawl, not being acted upon by the shuttle, allows the frog-pawl to operate on the stop-lever, and thus to stop the loom. Fig. 10 is a longitudinal section of a shuttle-box, tted with this arrangement. Fig. 11, a cross section of the same. P is the shuttle-box pawl, disposed at the bottom of the box. eis arod passing down through the sley-beam and having an adjustable nut or nuts, f f, at its lower end, on which rests the end of an arm, g, fixed on the frogpawl rod b. When the shuttle enters the box it depresses the shorter end of the pawl P, raising the other end, which lifts by the rod e the end of the arm g, turning the frog-pawl rod h on its center. The frog-pawl77 is thus raised clear oi the knocking-ott77 projection on the stop-lever; but if the shuttle does not enter the box, the long end of the pawl P, and, consequently, the arm g and the frog-pawl, remain down. The latter then comes in contact with the knocking-off projectionon the stoplever, pushing it out of its retaining-notch, and allowing it to act to stop the loom in the ordinary manner, which is well understood. The notch in the shuttle must be of such a depth that the longer end of the pawl P cannot drop lower after the shuttle is boxed7 and locked than will allow the frog-pawl to miss the knocking-off projection. The pawl may be acted on to liberate the shuttle. at the right time in a similar manner to that before (le-.

1. In a pneumatic loom, the cams or eccen- F, finger Q, lever R, and pin S for actuating tries H, in combination with the cylinder C, thepawl P, as set forth. pistonE,ands1ey-beam,alloperating together, In Witness whereof I have hereunto subas and for the purpose set forth. scribed my hand this eleventh day of J uly,

2. In combination with the shuttle-box of a one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two. pneumatic loom. the adjustable plate a, carry- CHARLES RICHARDSON. ing the pawl P, as and for the purpose set Witnesses: forth. H. C. DAVEY,

3. In combination with the pawl P, the lever T. W. FRIGOUT. 

